Archive for the ‘
Stories ’ Category

Jess contacted us with news about her new book, The Other Side of Life which combines Urban Fantasy and Cyberpunk. She offered to do an interview, so we took her up on the offer before she changed her mind. ;) This is her first book in a series, and she’s offering free copies to people willing to do advance reviews. Read to the end if you’re interested.

NPR recently had an interview with William Gibson. Although they mentioned his new book, Zero History, they didn’t talk much about it. Instead, it’s a great conversation about science fiction in general.

You can listen to a recording at: http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2010/09/17/midmorning2/

Users the world over engage in a virtual, multi-user environment in which they, playing the protagonist, must work their way up an increasingly violent learning curve. They share their experiences, of the struggle and of the enemies which seek to destroy them. It is a finite experience, and their journey does have an end; once this endgame arrives, they will start the process afresh.

If you’ll forgive my cheesy comparison, this is not merely a summary of the World of Warcraft-style MMO grind; it is Mercerism, the semi-religious practise carried out in Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

As part of our work here on The Internet Crashed, we’ll do interviews with people involved with cyberpunk.

I first “met” Gary Ballard online; we both frequented the same online game (MMO) rant and discussion sites. He posted under the pseudonym “HaemishM” and was an active participant back in the olden days of the MMO community. As I focused more on my own blog instead of visiting the community sites, I fell out of contact with most of the personalities, including Gary. But, as I was starting up this site, imagine my surprise when I found out that Gary had been writing an online cyberpunk serial called The Bridge Chronicles. Gary has collected his stories into book form and is now selling his work online.

Here’s a story I wrote a little while ago. I posted it on my professional blog a while ago, but thought it was appropriate to post here. This is slightly edited from the original for clarity.

Enjoy.

NEW TOY

Daniel fingered the switch and grinned.

It was his first time in the net. Well, not technically his first time; he had used the inference devices before, but the helmets were nothing compared to this. The lights, the colors, the speed would be all so much more intense to him now. He was seeing his familiar playground with new senses.

His vision swam as the view of the net had replaced the blank wall he was previously staring at. He saw himself dive toward the sea of light below, flying through the end of a graceful arch. He struck the surface of the light and was immediately at the ISP connection point.